St Phillips Project

The St Phillips project was developed as part of the Lower Usuthu Small Holder Development Project Phase 1 (LUSIP I), which involved an investment of E1.2 billion in factory expansion by Ubombo. The Eswatini government invested E1.53 billion in constructing the 155 million cubic meters Lubovane Dam and canal infrastructure using international donor funding. Due to its prominent contribution to poverty alleviation in the LUSIP I project area; the St Phillips project was allocated water from the LUSIP water system as a means to support the St Philips Roman Catholic mission’s poverty alleviation initiatives in the LUSIP area.
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Ubombo Sugar leased 450 hectares of land from the Catholic Church for sugar cane farming, with the lease fee paid to the St Philips Mission and used to fund poverty alleviation projects supported by the Catholic Church. These include 2 schools, a clinic, mobile clinic service and a rural ambulance service. The project has given way to the creation of employment opportunities to 95% of the residents of the surrounding community; and the mission is now linked to the LUSIP canal, ensuring reliable and clean water supply to the schools, clinic and other residents.